Main Edition
US
FR
March 9, 2021 - 8:00am
The Parliamentary Standards Committee has ordered Crispin Blunt MP to apologise for a breach of parliamentary rules. The announcement came after it was revealed that the APPG on Global LGBT+ Rights, which Blunt chairs, failed to be adequately transparent on its relationship to lobby groups on the subject of gender self-identification.
The Parliamentary Standards investigation focused on a position paper circulated to government and opposition leaders in July 2020 as “a satisfactory outcome” to the debate. The paper called for, among other things, the adoption of self-ID, the medical transitioning of children and compulsory school education in gender identity. Lord Collins of Highbury, a member of the APPG, on 25 September described the paper as “backed by the LGBT Groups of the main political parties”.
But the paper thus presented as mainstream consensus was in fact developed under conditions of secrecy, in conjunction with gender identity lobby groups, and with no input from Parliament in general let alone other interested bodies such as feminist organisations. As the campaigning organisation Sex Matters has detailed, the paper was variously treated as an official and unofficial APPG document depending on political expediency. When asked why the paper was not made public, Blunt stated:
That the APPG was not approaching these issues from a neutral perspective is richly indicated by the fact that the group’s coordinator was paid by grants from external LGBT campaign bodies such as Stonewall and The Kaleidoscope Trust. Imagine the reaction had it just been revealed that a key environmental APPG was coordinated by someone on the payroll at Shell; that secret position papers were being authored in consultation with oil and gas industry lobbyists with the apparent aim of ensuring parliamentary adoption of energy policy written by the energy industry — before anyone else got a look-in.
Were such a close relationship to be revealed between an APPG and energy industry lobby groups, under conditions of secrecy apparently designed to exclude more general scrutiny, the progressive press would be going bananas. That they are not when the same stealth tactics are used to advance progressive causes suggests that precious few are concerned with transparency in an absolute sense, instead only where it’s politically expedient.
With this in mind, it’s no surprise to see resistance to the one-sided steamrollering of sex and gender policy by well-funded pro-trans lobbyists increasingly unwilling to rely on public debate, parliamentary neutrality and political transparency. Now, the pro-biology resistance is mobilising on the same terms.
That is, groups seeking to ensure political recognition of the salience of biological sex are taking on the gender identity lobby by developing their own lobby. In an opening salvo aimed at exposing the extent of policy capture, for example, Sex Matters has called for a public enquiry into the dominance of LGBT lobby groups in shaping public policy on gender identity. And today, Fair Play for Women takes the Office for National Statistics to court to ensure the UK Census retains a clear definition of sex.
It’s a David and Goliath fight, with crowdfunded and often unpaid grassroots activism on one side, and heavily corporate — and even government-funded lobby groups on the other. Time will tell which side prevails. But one thing is clear: the age of bitter marginal politics, clicktivism and learned helplessness is passing, and the ecosystem of behind-the-scenes social policy development is no longer a progressive-only closed shop.
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
SubscribeWe are conducting an extraordinary socio-biological and potentially irreversible experiment on our children.
When someone dying of anorexia insists that they are fat and will not eat, we don’t say: we understand. You are suffering from the social phobia of fatness and are a victim of how society treats fat people. Die in starvation.
When someone with paranoid schizophrenia insists that aliens have implanted a microchip in their brain, we don’t noddin sympathy and says: the West always needs to ‘other’ the differently-specied. See how they call immigrants as aliens. It is alienophobia? Lets open your brain and take the chip out.
Here is a long-term outcome study of gender reassignment surgery from Sweden, among the first to embrace such fads. People with gender dysphoria have serious mental health problems before they get surgery, and many of these problems stay the same or worsen after surgery.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21364939/
Good luck with the next generation
The paper called for, among other things, the adoption of self-ID, the medical transitioning of children and compulsory school education in gender identity.
Two things: 1) sex is what you are; identity is how you see yourself. We are actually in a time when perception is deemed as greater than reality.
2) It is almost impossible that L and G groups would go for the part in bold, or that any sane human being would. But to the Ls and Gs – imagine being a young male or a tomboy, and having adults see you as fodder for medical experimentation, including surgical intervention.
The trans crowd is already an existential threat to womanhood; now, it aims to destabilize the gay community, too.
“You cant see the cage we have you in so you think you are free” the news Anchor begins the opening line of JP Sear’s parody news cast on youtube, a vegan lifestyle Guru turned right leaning stand up comedian and now does political videos which can be brilliant.
Dr Levine, the Medical head who is pushing for gov funded Trans surgery for minors is covered in the skit, as Sears says, there is a push for minors to be allowed sex re-assignment surgery without their parents approval, so why not be able to give it to children without even the child’s approval? – That would be even more Progressive, Wouldn’t it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxudQgoG4-c
I do love his skit on AOC and her ‘Safe Room’ during the great ‘Selfie Insurrection Riots’ on the Capital.
It’s a mystery, and big disappointment, to me how the media and political classes have become slaves to the trans and woke agendas. If their focus groups included real, normal brits I’m sure they’d discover that these issues neither sell papers or win votes.
If you look at who owns the media and what their role is in pushing this fauxgressive movement into legislation it starts to look even more frightening.
I think it’s important to follow the money on this. But after you get to the billionaires, one has to wonder who is pushing that we cant see.
If you look at the funding of high profile trans events in the US it is an eyebrow raiser to see the FBI on the donor list along with some other government organizations.
Also, a lot of high ranking military officers.
So, don’t be disappointed, be curious. We should all be pushing to discover why they want this so badly, other than to totally disenfranchise women.
“I think it’s important to follow the money on this. But after you get to the billionaires, one has to wonder who is pushing that we cant see.”
Well, Cicero nailed it way-back-when; “cui bono?” – “who benefits?
Do you have any references for the billionaires claim and wha their views are and why they are pursuing the trans agenda as you see it?
Even better is Cicero’s bit on the enemy, which he has several, but the best is his ‘Enemy Within The Gates’: “Marcus Tullius Cicero quotation: A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at thegates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly.” google for the entire, as it is great.
Stonewall have got universities and many other institutions doing their trans friendly status ( forgotten exact name) this is a long and detailed process that has to be repeated annually and will give them a handsome income every year. Its a big incentive to get people, politicians and organisations to buy into the self id doctrine.
Any attempt to even determine why, how, etc., is attacked as “hate” and “transphobia”.
“Disenfranchise women”? How?
sport, toilets, prisons, refuges…..
Google Philip Bunce, who is known to sometimes go to work in a wig and women’s clothing,who was named on the Financial Times & HERoes Champions of Women in Business list, an annual ranking of 100 company leaders who support women in business.I understand he would only dress as a women on Fridays. A man taking the award is one less women who fought her way to the top being recognised, one less mentor for aspiring young business women to follow.
People who menstruate. Cervix carriers. Chest feeders, birthing parent, human milk… need I go on?
Identity.
Also worth noting that ex-Speaker John Bercow was the president of Kaleidoscope Trust. Very instructive when observing which urgent questions (pro-genderism) he allowed in HoC and which he did not (anything that questioned the narrative).
very pertinent, follow the money, why don’t we (including the media) expose the companies who finance this gender fluid narrative into the media of all sorts? Investigative journalism will come from courageous women like Mary
It has/is being done to some extent. The huge global law firm Dentons is one of the main culprits, not just lobbying, but producing a pamphlet advising trans activists on effective and crafty tactics, including how to undermine parents and encourage children to transition.
Truly shocking.
Is this viewable online?
thanks for this info it’s rare I’ve not heard of something re: this but that’s a new one on me
https://www.the11thhourblog.com/post/follow-the-money-how-the-pritzker-family-makes-a-killing-from-the-transgender-industry-flow-chart
The cowardly surrender by the political class to bullying from the transgender lobby!
I’m not sure it was all down to lobbying, there is also the liberal/progressive narrative to show that they are ‘with it’ + money to be made in the pharmaceutical industry + pressure from the UN and EU.
Thank you Mary for this information, beautifully written and clear, a ray of hope.
Good article. The woke and trans-lobby groups need to be crushed, they are a danger to young people, women and democracy. Funding needs to be stopped and the politicians like blunt need to be identified and shamed.
Thank you, Mary. The more light is shone on the deliberately ‘under the veil’ tactics of the trans lobby groups, the better. Need to keep an eye on any proposed changes to our surrogacy laws, too; same tactics from the the same lobby groups.
The Green Party has been taken over by extreme transactivists which has resulted in both myself,and other friends, including a trans friend resigning this week. The co chair of the women‘s committee is a biological male, who works for a company (GenderGP) that in 2018 was found guilty of illegally supplying puberty blockers to children as young as ten. The Green Party are not concerned by this, in fact this person holds another four senior party roles. The only group with protected characteristic’s under the Equalities Act that the Green Party does not have a policy for is women, both under the characteristc of sex and under the charateristic pregnancy/maternity. A motion was put forward to protect woemns sex based rights. Women speaking in favour of this motion were labelled as transphobic and it was blocked. Ironically the day before International Womens Day. I did not consider anything said transphobic, mearly supportive of women and notably my friend who transitioned 30 years ago also did not consider either the motion or the discussion in any way transphobic. Its sad to see a party that should be fighting to stop climate change being taken over by extreme activists.
Stonewall should have no place or say in the public sector. We know many gay people (plus a close relly) who ALL say that Stonewall in no way talks for them, or indeed, that they are part of some nebulous LBTGTXYZQUIRSJHJH “community”.
Seems now all you have to do to get traction in the public sector is should the loudest. BLM & XR, both Marxist movements dedicated to the overthrow of the west are treated as saviours.
But Transgender Ideology is poisonous, and is not about rights, it’s about weaponising an ideology in order to destroy women’s rights.
I’m sick to the back teeth of this utter crap.
I’d maybe have some interest were there scientific evidence that “genders” exists separate from “sex”.
Till that day, gender remains for me, a grammatical term.
When my stepdaughter, lost to this drivel, called me a “CIS” male, I told her she was misgendering me and that I am just male. Left her speechless. Two can play that game, I told her.
We need to stand up, be vocal and FIGHT this vileness.
Exactly. One’s internal sense of gender identity is one’s own “lived experience.” So if you do not have an internal sense of gender identity but merely call yourself a man because you’ve noticed that your body has the equipment for impregnating a female, then you are not “cis” because your gender does not match your sex. When I am forced to write down “my pronouns,” I will put down “he/she/they” and if anyone questions I will explain that I don’t have an internal gender identity and want people to feel free to use whichever pronoun they think will best help the listener understand about whom they are speaking, so I am giving them a choice.
How did regressive stand unopposed for so long while masquerading as progressive?
It is not the first time the powerful have used an erroneous medical theory to control society (eugenics, hysteria, lobotomy), nor will it be the last. Let’s commit to overcoming this medical error and move to a more humane future.
eugenics? Where? All I see is dis-eugenics,, which is most government policy and is 100% Woke.
I honestly didn’t understand a word of the article. I will say that I have been looking forward to biological men taking part in women’s sports at a high level. A tennis match between between a big trans-woman and one of those little Japanese players would be hugely entertaining, and the gymnastics and netball at the Olympics would certainly be worth watching.
I suggest you remove those hobnail boots before your next attempt at humour.
Actually I agree, but for more serious reasons. I think it would be the only thing that would make the reality of the situation sink in for many of the public supporters of the more unreasonable trans-activism.
Such supporters are overwhelmingly female, many of them I suspect, believing it’s all about being kind and accepting.
They need to see publicly prominent Women’s World Records being broken and held by males, with the realisation that no female will ever again hold those titles to understand what’s at stake.
Just wait till all the surgical and drug enhancement in sports is legalized. I mean doping? If trans hormone blockers are not doping in a sporting context, what is? Maybe adrenaline injections just before the 100m race gun goes off? Maybe some crystal meth before the triathlon? Why not? the gate is opened to everything.
Imagine the reaction had it just been revealed that a key environmental APPG was coordinated by someone on the payroll at Shell; that secret position papers were being authored in consultation with oil and gas industry lobbyists with the apparent aim of ensuring parliamentary adoption of energy policy written by the energy industry
My worry is that our reaction to all environmental questions was a cop-out. To stop discussion and just take a side.
I see the pull quote you used and often wonder why the same people who are skeptical about research funded by private interests are seldom, if ever, skeptical about research funded by public sector interests.
Classic Trotskyite entry tactics by the alphabet stew organisations. They twice near-hijacked the Labour party in a single generation. Nobody on the sane left remembers to keep their eyes open and their guard up. Given the endless open goals the feminist left gave and still give the alphabet teams one cannot be surprised. It’s what they always do.
Time for a halt to be called to the madness.
I find articles like this really helpful and the comments that follow equally helpful, partly because they expose the depth of the problems facing society and partly because they challenge the narrative. What I need more help with is knowing how we go beyond simply holding back the damaging progressive tide and promoting a cohesive worldview that can positively shape our nation.
For those who wonder, APPG=all party parliamentary group. I had to look it up.
From the Parliament web page:
“All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) are informal cross-party groups that have no official status within Parliament. They are run by and for Members of the Commons and Lords, though many choose to involve individuals and organisations from outside Parliament in their administration and activities. “
This, along with other aspects Progressive ideology, put me in mind of this rather apocalyptic quote:
“We shall unleash the nihilists and the atheists and we shall provoke a great social cataclysm which in all its horror will show clearly to all nations the effect of absolute atheism; the origins of savagery and of most bloody turmoil.
Then everywhere, the people will be forced to defend themselves against the world minority of the world revolutionaries and will exterminate those destroyers of civilization and the multitudes disillusioned with Christianity whose spirits will be from that moment without direction and leadership and anxious for an ideal, but without knowledge where to send its adoration, will receive the true light through the universal manifestation of the pure doctrine of Lucifer brought finally out into public view. A manifestation which will result from a general reactionary movement which will follow the destruction of Christianity and Atheism; both conquered and exterminated at the same time.”
It’s generally understood that 3% to 5% of a population can make a revolution if they are deeply committed to their goal. The trans population is .0003%, so maybe it is time to adjust thinking on this subject if the media has signed on to the agenda.
Good article. The issue of trans activism needs to be stamped on and trans lobbying squashed. Defund trans treatment on the NHS and defund trans ngo’s.
And in the interests of transparency would Mary Harrington care to make clear her own views on the substance of the trans rights debate – just so that we all undersrtand where she is coming from.
Probably the same place many of us are coming from: a healthy fear of government and corporate overreach into not just our own personal and sexual identities, but also those of children too young to fully understand the implications of sexual organ reassignment.
“Just so we understand where she is coming from”
.Looked like a pretty straightforward essay with no evident bias, good journalism, that you even have to ask suggests as much.
She has made her views very clear in previous articles on the subject. Look up her back catalogue, (she is always worth reading anyway,) and you’ll find more than one related piece.